Huskies Lose Ugly One To Last-Place Penn State

Alaska Airlines Arena was two-thirds full.

That was better than the gauge reading on the University of Washington basketball team -- in terms of energy and efficiency, the needle was on empty.

On Wednesday night, Danny Sprinkle's guys tried to squeeze out every last drop of whatever they had to avoid a bad loss, but they still went down to a 63-60 defeat to Penn State, one of the Big Ten's last-place entries coming in.

This marked a season low for the Montlake guys.

The Nittany Lions took the lead for good at 61-59 with 1:21 left when Franck Kepnang was called for goal-tending on a shot by Penn State freshman Kayden Wingo.

To the end, the UW's Zoom Diallo missed a pair of close-in shots, Hannes Steinbach sank just one of two free throws and Quimari Peterson and Wesley Yates III misfired on 3-pointers while the visitors added a pair of free throws.

Mercifully, it was over.

Steinbach supplied 19 points and 14 rebounds for his 16th double-double performance of the season., but didn't get much help. Penn State was led by Freddie Dilione V's 16.

"They're hurting in the locker room," Sprinkle said of his team. "They should be hurting."

This one was brutal more often than not as the Nittany Lions (11-14 overall, 2-12 Big Ten) forced the Huskies into needless turnovers and bad shots and led 35-32 at halftime.

Hannes Steinbach gets tied up inside by Penn State. | Dave Sizer phot

Players just were not at their best. Penn State's Dominick Stewart unleashed an airball early in the second half that missed the rim by no less than 10 feet. Driving through the key after that, Yates simply fell down and lost the ball out of bounds.

Ouch.

Yet the Huskies hung in there in trying to rescue a game they should have won. Yet they had nothing at the end.

Peterson's 3-pointer with four seconds left to tie wouldn't go down.

"I felt good about the shot," he said. "It was just too strong."

Yates scored the Huskies' first six points as his team (12-13, 4-10) got off to a decent start and built 13-8 and 15-10 leads.

Yet the Nittany Lions pushed the issue and went on a 10-0 run with Mingo's lay-in finishing it off for a 20-15 advantage as these teams reached the 10-minute mark of the opening half.

Bryson Tucker dunks one through against the Nittany Lions. | Dave Sizer photo

Both sides were extra sloppy all the way to halftime, continually throwing the ball away and tossing up ill-advised shots.

They headed for the locker room with Penn State up 35-32. The Huskies kept it close with a 3-pointer from Peterson with 12.1 seconds left that just beat the shot clock but still needed a review.

Zoom Diallo looks for room to drive as a Penn State defender tries to cut him off. | Dave Sizer photo

Trailing 47-41 with 12:47 remaining in the game, the UW began a final push to pull this one out. Steinbach scored seven of his team's next nine points to put his guys on top 51-49.

They went ahead for the last time when Kepnang dunked on an inbounds play for a 59-57 lead with 2:44 to go.

Then it was back and forth to the final buzzer before everything came to a dissatisfying conclusion for the home team.

"We're disappointed," Sprinkle said. "We've got to find a way to bounce back."

Afterward, the coach said that freshman point guard JJ Mandaquit underwent foot surgery in New York, where his surgeon is located, and freshman swingman Jasir Rencher had a heart procedure in town.

Down to six regular-season games, the Huskies now turn to a Saturday night outing against Minnesota (11-13, 4-9), with tipoff at 6 p.m.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: